CAPITOL COMMENTS

Sink no fan of gift ban

Joe Follick and Lloyd Dunkelberger

Published: Monday, August 13, 2007 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, August 13, 2007 at 6:42 a.m.

Legislators and other state officials have complained, mostly in grumbles, about the 2006 law that bans them from accepting as much as a breath mint from a lobbyist or a group that hires lobbyists.
Count Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink as a detractor. In a light-hearted speech to the Tallahassee Tiger Bay Club on Wednesday, the Cabinet's lone Democrat told of one visit to a lobbyist who asked her to leave a dollar when she requested a coffee.
"It's the stupidest damn rule," Sink said. The man largely responsible for the ban, former Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon, was her opponent in last year's election.
Sink went on to say that she ended up paying $90 each for her lunch and a staff employee at an unnamed hotel where she was asked to speak recently.
"I'm traveling all over the state, meeting groups that invite me to speak as your chief financial officer about what we're doing and how I'm serving the citizens," she said. "Now I just steal stuff."
She then glanced at a member of the Florida Commission on Ethics who was sitting at the head table. "Just joking," Sink added. "Maybe."IVORY TOWER SET ENTERS MONEY GAME
A Center for Responsive Politics report fingers an unlikely source of campaign funds: College professors and others from the world of higher education.
The report released this week says, "Nearly four years after academia donated almost $30 million to unseat George W. Bush and Republicans, college professors and others in the education field have contributed more money to federal politics than the oil industry and drugmakers, with a nearly unanimous goal of putting a Democrat in the White House."
The report says 76 percent of the donations - about $7 million so far this year - from individuals listing higher education as their occupation went to Democrats. Presidential candidate Barack Obama has received nearly $1.5 million compared to about $940,000 for Hillary Clinton.YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY
FOR
When a group pays for a poll that is released publicly, rarely are the answers a surprise. That's the case with results last week from two separate polls.
One of the state's largest business groups, Associated Industries of Florida, ripped the state's decision earlier this year to scuttle a new coal plant in Glades County. It released a poll last week that showed only 6 percent of voters consider the environment their top priority.
Two days later, an environmental group released a poll that says - surprise! - Floridians overwhelmingly support Gov. Charlie Crist's efforts to reduce greenhouse gases with a cut in coal plants.
The poll, paid for by Environmental Defense, says nearly 80 percent of those polled favor rolling back greenhouse gas emissions and 71 percent say they approve of capping emissions from power plants.Compiled from reports by Joe Follick and Lloyd Dunkelberger of the Star-Banner Tallahassee Bureau.

<b>L</b>egislators and other state officials have complained, mostly in grumbles, about the 2006 law that bans them from accepting as much as a breath mint from a lobbyist or a group that hires lobbyists.<BR>
Count Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink as a detractor. In a light-hearted speech to the Tallahassee Tiger Bay Club on Wednesday, the Cabinet's lone Democrat told of one visit to a lobbyist who asked her to leave a dollar when she requested a coffee.<BR>
"It's the stupidest damn rule," Sink said. The man largely responsible for the ban, former Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon, was her opponent in last year's election.<BR>
Sink went on to say that she ended up paying $90 each for her lunch and a staff employee at an unnamed hotel where she was asked to speak recently.<BR>
"I'm traveling all over the state, meeting groups that invite me to speak as your chief financial officer about what we're doing and how I'm serving the citizens," she said. "Now I just steal stuff."<BR>
She then glanced at a member of the Florida Commission on Ethics who was sitting at the head table. "Just joking," Sink added. "Maybe."<BR>
<b>IVORY TOWER SET ENTERS MONEY GAME
</b>A Center for Responsive Politics report fingers an unlikely source of campaign funds: College professors and others from the world of higher education.<BR>
The report released this week says, "Nearly four years after academia donated almost $30 million to unseat George W. Bush and Republicans, college professors and others in the education field have contributed more money to federal politics than the oil industry and drugmakers, with a nearly unanimous goal of putting a Democrat in the White House."<BR>
The report says 76 percent of the donations - about $7 million so far this year - from individuals listing higher education as their occupation went to Democrats. Presidential candidate Barack Obama has received nearly $1.5 million compared to about $940,000 for Hillary Clinton.<BR>
<b>YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY
FOR
</b>When a group pays for a poll that is released publicly, rarely are the answers a surprise. That's the case with results last week from two separate polls.<BR>
One of the state's largest business groups, Associated Industries of Florida, ripped the state's decision earlier this year to scuttle a new coal plant in Glades County. It released a poll last week that showed only 6 percent of voters consider the environment their top priority.<BR>
Two days later, an environmental group released a poll that says - surprise! - Floridians overwhelmingly support Gov. Charlie Crist's efforts to reduce greenhouse gases with a cut in coal plants.<BR>
The poll, paid for by Environmental Defense, says nearly 80 percent of those polled favor rolling back greenhouse gas emissions and 71 percent say they approve of capping emissions from power plants.<BR>
<i>Compiled from reports by Joe Follick and Lloyd Dunkelberger of the Star-Banner Tallahassee Bureau.</i><BR>